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COMPLETE PEERAGE
Aberdeen
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Bart., and da. of William Baird, of Newbyth, co. Haddington. Grand Master of Freemasons 1784–86. He d. v.p., 2 Oct. 1791, of a fall from his horse, at Formartine House, and was bur. at Methlic. His widow d. 8 Oct. 1795, at Clifton, co. Gloucester. Admon. Nov. 1796.] | |
| IV. 1801. | 4. George (Gordon, afterwards Hamilton-Gordon), Earl of Aberdeen, &c. [S.], grandson and h., being s. and h. of George Gordon (styled Lord Haddo) and Charlotte his wife abovenamed. He was b. 28 Jan. 1784, at Edinburgh; was styled Lord Haddo, 1791 till 1801; ed. at Harrow, and at St. John's Coll., Cambridge; M.A. 1804; attached in 1801 to the embassy to negotiate with Napoleon at Amiens, where the treaty for peace was signed Mar. 1802; Rep. Peer [S.] 1806–18; K.T. 16 Mar. 1808; F.R.S. 28 Apr. 1808; Grand Cross of St. Stephen of Austria, 4 Sep. 1813; ambassador to Austria, 1813, where he prevailed with the Emperor to join (by the treaty of Toplitz, Sep. 1813) the allied Sovereigns against (his s.-in-law) Napoleon.[1] On 1 June 1814 he signed the treaty of Paris on behalf of his Sovereign, and on the same day was cr. a Peer of the United Kingdom as VISCOUNT GORDON OF ABERDEEN, co. Aberdeen. P.C. 22 July 1814. By Royal lic., 13 Nov. 1818, he took the name of Hamilton before that of Gordon.[2] After fourteen years' retirement he again took office, Jan. to June 1828 (under the Wellington administration), as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. From June 1828 to Mar. 1830, and again from Sep. 1841 to 1846, he was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Finally, Dec. 1852 to Feb. 1855, he was First Lord of the Treasury, and as such, Prime Minister, the chief event in his tenure of office being the bloody Crimean Campaign. His cabinet fell from the idea that through his feebleness we had "drifted into the war."[3] K.G. 7 Feb. 1855.[4] Trustee Brit. Museum from 1812, and Lord Lieut, of co. Aberdeen from 1846, till his death; Ranger of |
- ↑ "He has high birth and dignity, a sound and cultivated understanding, impenetrable discretion, and polite but somewhat grave and reserved manners." (J.W. Ward, Letter dat. 1813.) V.G.
- ↑ The ground on which he petitioned for this licence was his connection with the family of Hamilton, and his being guardian to (his wife's child) the young Marquess of Abercorn; as neither he nor his surv. children had any of the blood or estates of the Hamiltons, the reason alleged for taking such name appears very inadequate. Accordingly it was, with good judgment, formally abandoned by the 7th Earl, 9 Oct. 1900.
- ↑ See Annual Register, 1860, pp. 376–383. He was a Tory and Conservative till 1846; afterwards leader of the Pittites in the H. of L. V.G.
- ↑ He was granted the very rare distinction of being permitted to retain the order of the Thistle together with that of the Garter. Exclusive of the blood royal, twelve Knights of the Thistle (since its re-establishment in 1687) have been elected to the Garter, viz.:—(1) The Duke of Argyll [S.], K.G. 1709/1O; (2) The Duke of Hamilton [S.], Duke of Brandon [G.B.] K.G. 1712; (3) the Earl of Essex, K.G. 1737/8; (4) The Earl of Bute [S.], K.G. 1762; (5) The Earl of Carlisle, K.G. 1793; (6) The Duke of Buccleuch [S.], K.G. 1794; (7) The Duke of Roxburghe [S.], K.G. 1801; (8) The Duke of Montrose [S.], K.G. 1812; (9) The Duke of Buccleuch [S.], K.G. 1835; (10) The Earl of Aberdeen [S.], K.G. 1855; (11) The
